The present invention relates to a cooling device and, more particularly, to a cooling device with reduced power consumption and improved efficiency.
In recent years, the development of energy-saving types of electric apparatuses, transport or mobile apparatuses, etc., considered necessary from the viewpoint of environmental and energy problems, has been advanced. In information processing apparatuses including computers such as personal computers (PCs) and servers, external storage units, and communication apparatuses, power consumption tends to increase with the increase in operating frequency and in performance of integrated circuits (ICs) such as central processing units (CPUs) and logic ICs. Therefore techniques for realizing information processing apparatuses with reduced power consumption are being developed.
For example, Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-282396 discloses a technique for generating power by thermoelectric conversion of heat generated from a heating-generating component of an electronic apparatus comprising a computer. According to the technique disclosed in Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-282396, generated power is used to drive each of blocks in the electronic apparatus, for example.
Many of various kinds of apparatuses, such as electric apparatuses including information processors, and transport or mobile apparatuses, generate heat in the process of operating electrically or mechanically. In the art disclosed in Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-282396, this heat is utilized to generate power. On the other hand, in apparatuses in which heat is generated, there is required a need to perform thermal processing for cooling the heat-generating component. Therefore, it is desirable to achieve both power generation and cooling with efficiency.